Senoradský Mlýn

The Ferry and the River Crossings

For decades, a rope ferry operated directly opposite the mill, especially on weekends, shuttling visitors across the Oslava. The rope between the banks persisted long after the ferry service ended, and the crossing point became a well-known feature of the valley. Today, a simple footbridge (lávka) spans the river near the mill, and another crossing lets hikers traverse the Chvojnice as well.↗↗

Off-road vehicles still attempt to ford the shallow river here when the water level permits, but for most visitors, the footbridges are the way across — and the crossing is part of the romance of arriving at a place so deeply embedded in the landscape.↗

Hiking to the Mill: The Classic Loop from Senorady

The village of Senorady maintains a GPS-marked hiking loop that takes about 4–5 hours and passes through the most scenic features of the surrounding landscape. Starting from the village square near the municipal office, the trail climbs past the earthworks of the medieval Šance fortress, crosses a grassy plateau that was once a salaš (shepherd's pasture) with a steppe-like character reminiscent of the famous Mohelno serpentine steppes, then reaches the Velká skála viewpoint with sweeping views over the Oslava canyon.↗↗

From Velká skála, a forest path descends steeply through the woods toward the river, passing Zdeňkova vyhlídka (another named viewpoint) before reaching the cluster of valley cottages near the Oslava. After crossing the river on a footbridge, the trail follows the water upstream to the junction of the Chvojnice — where the ruins of Kraví hora castle tempt a short detour — and then continues to the Senoradský Mlýn's water race, the channel that once fed the mill wheels.↗

Beyond the mill, the loop climbs back toward the village, passing a small kantýna (a basic refreshment point in hiking terminology) and a rock associated with a local legend, before returning to Senorady through mixed forest and open ground.↗

Nearby: Castles Above the Canyon

The valley around Senoradský Mlýn is one of the richest in Moravia for medieval history. The ruins of Levnov castle (locally called Ketkovák) perch on a cliff directly above the mill on the far side of the canyon — a strenuous but rewarding climb after crossing the river. From the castle ruins, the view down to the mill and the confluence is spectacular.↗↗

Kraví hora, another medieval castle ruin, sits just a short distance upstream where the Chvojnice meets the Oslava, reachable via a footbridge from the main trail. Together, these three fortifications — Levnov, Kraví hora, and the older Šance earthworks above Senorady itself — form a remarkable ring of forgotten castles around the valley, almost none of which are developed for tourism, preserving their wild, romantic character.↗↗

Getting There and Visiting

Senoradský Mlýn is deliberately difficult to reach by car, and this isolation is a big part of its appeal. The egeon.cz hiking guide notes that very few people dare drive here and even cyclists are rare, since the surrounding trails are rough and unsuitable for riding. The ideal approach is on foot.↗

The most straightforward walking route is from Senorady village: roughly 2 kilometres downhill on the yellow-marked trail, descending almost the entire way. From Ketkovice on the opposite bank, the red trail takes you about 4 km through the valley floor and upstream along the right bank to the confluence. For a longer and more dramatic approach, the blue trail follows the Chvojnice gorge for 10.5 km from Kralice nad Oslavou railway station on the Brno–Jihlava line.↗

If you want to drive as close as possible, a forest road from Senorady leads down to the cottage settlement around the mill, but the road quality is poor and unmaintained in winter. Parking in Senorady or Ketkovice and walking in is the recommended approach. The area sits at 276 metres elevation, within the boundary of the Údolí Oslavy a Chvojnice nature reserve, so the landscape is protected and undeveloped.↗

The Feeling of the Place

Senoradský Mlýn is not a museum or a restaurant. It's a quiet stone building beside a water channel, at the meeting point of two rivers, hemmed in by near-vertical rock walls rising in every direction. The mill is a landmark on hiking maps and a destination for those who want to feel like they've reached somewhere genuinely remote. Local hikers and tramps (Czech outdoor enthusiasts with a tradition dating to the interwar period) know this confluence intimately, and the cottage culture along the banks means the valley carries decades of informal human history.↗↗

The broader region around Senorady is marketed as a retreat for digital detox — limited mobile signal, surrounding forest, and proximity to wild nature. The river valley is popular with anglers, and the Toulavá kamera national TV programme dedicated an episode to this area in 2023, featuring both the mill's history and the unique ecology of the protected valley.↗↗